I shoulda stayed one more week, I lost my job. I'm glad they're, it's good to have some faithful preachers leave the pulpit way up. First Chronicles chapter 12, last when I was here I preached out of Ephesians. Back on this thought of David's mighty men, maybe a couple more messages as we deal with these mighty men. We've looked at obedience. We're looking at character traits now of the mighty men. courage, loyalty, and training. We've seen so far those four. That introductory message, this'll be the fifth character trait that we'll see in 1 Chronicles chapter number 12 and at verse number eight. The Bible said, and of the Gaddax, there separated themselves unto David into the whole to the wilderness, men of might. and men of war, here's my phrase I'm looking at this morning, fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as rose upon the mountains. Esau the first, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, Mishmata the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, Adiai the sixth, Eliai the seventh, Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, Jeremiah the 10th, Meshbaniah the 11th. These were the sons of Gad, captains of the host. One of the least was over 100, and the greatest over 1,000. These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it overflowed his banks, and they put to flight all them of the valley, both toward the east and toward the west. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold of David. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for helping us to be back this morning. God, I thank you for this good congregation. Lord, everyone that's in the house of God today is special to me and I know special to you. So I pray today, God, that you'd move in our midst. I pray that you'd do a work, Lord. I pray that you'd speak to us and through us. Bless us as only you can. And we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Now this is a interesting group of mighty men. that are a part of David's greater total of mighty men. These are men of the tribe of Gad. Now those of you that are students of the Bible will know about the half tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Gad and how that they dwelt on the other side of Jordan. They didn't cross. When Joshua crossed with the children of Israel, they stayed in the pasture land. I read somewhere this week that these Gadites were famous farmers and they were famous cattle ranchers and so they would have stayed on that side trying to have a place to feed their cattle and we can argue back and forth about whether or not that was right or not for them to stay and not to have crossed Jordan. But I will say this. Just because they did not cross Jordan didn't mean God was done with them. But God had a plan. And we find here these men of Gad as they are enlisted as the mighty men, part of the mighty men of David. And here's what the Bible says about them. The Bible says that they were fit for the battle. They were fit for the battle. I'm gonna preach a little while this morning, if the Lord will help us. We've looked at courage, and we've looked at obedience, and we've looked at loyalty, and we've looked at training, all of which are important if you want to be a mighty man of God. I want us to look this morning, and I want to ask you this question. Are you fit to fight? Are you fit to fight? These men that are named here were fit for the battle. And I'm gonna tell ya, I'm afraid that the day which we live that the devil has lulled us to sleep into believing that we're not in a battle. But all you've gotta do is open your eyes and look outside and you'll realize that Christians are in a battle. and you're either in the battle and fit to fight or you're not. You're either ready to go to war or you're not. I want you to examine yourself spiritually and ask yourself the question today, are you fit for the battle? Now, if we were to march in soldiers from various branches of the military this morning, if we were to march them in here, You would see that these would be men, particularly the enlisted men, particularly the men just out of basic training, the men that the military has set forward to be fit to fight. You would note that they would be trimmed. You would note that their uniform would be in place. You would note that they had taken care. You would note there was a different way in which they walked. They had been drilled. They had been trained. They had been instructed. They are fit to fight. Now, I'd never have been through basic training in the military, Brother Neil, but I did go through basic law enforcement training, and when I went through it, you know, they had us in there, and we was working out, and I was dying. I thought I was gonna die 30 different times. I thought, this bunch is gonna kill us. Finally, one of the instructors said, all right, boys, time for lean and rest. We're gonna lean and rest. I thought, hallelujah, that sounds good. I like both the words lean and the word rest. That seems like something I can do. Lean and rest, hallelujah. I was looking for a place to lean and rest. What I found out was lean and rest. Brother Rick was the pushup position. That's lean and rest. That's neither leaning nor resting. But I didn't argue. I just did what they said. Okay, this is how we do it, lean and rest. All right, let's do a few mountain climbers while we're resting, while we're in the lean and rest. I thought these men hate us. They are going to kill us with a heart attack right here. But you know what they were trying to do? They were trying to make something out of us that would be fit to fight. Can I say the same is true for the Lord right here at Concord Baptist Church on a Sunday morning? He's trying to train some soldiers. He may be trying to train some teenagers and raise them up and get them to where spiritually they're ready to go into the battle. Spiritually, they are fit to fight. Spiritually, they're ready and they're where they need to be. And they're fit for the battle. God help us. We need some soldiers that are fit for the fight. Just fit for the fight. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the anniversary of D-Day. In 1942, the US military saw that there was a need to put together a group of men that would destroy some of the barricades that the Germans had built along the beaches of Normandy. They put out an advertisement. Wanted folks to come try out for this new underwater demolition team. And so these men, they came and they selected some of the most fit and they took them to Fort Pence, Florida. When they got there, they're out in the middle of a swamp, Brian, they've got nothing. I mean, it's sand and sand ants and mosquitoes and a bunch of telephone poles and some canvas. And they tell these men, hey, build your base here. And so they started taking those telephone poles and digging holes and setting telephone poles and stretching canvas and trying to make a base. And the man that was the lieutenant commander over them, he started noticing how badly those men hated carrying the telephone poles. And so he incorporated it into their training. And every morning those men would get them phone poles and down to the beach they'd run. And all day long, they lift the foam poles over their head, back down to this shoulder, over their head, back down to this shoulder. And if you go to Bud's training, they're still doing it today, except now they don't call them frogmen and they don't call them UDTs. They call them the Navy SEALs. You might've heard of them, amen? and they train those men with them big old foam poles, and they lift them and they put them down, they lift them and they put them down, and they put them down, they lift them up, and they're the baddest of the bad. They're the most elite of all the military, and they're sure, they make double sure that those men are fit to go to battle, that their bodies can take it, that they know what they're doing. Hey, that's the kind of warrior I wanna be for Christ. I don't wanna be run of the mill. I don't wanna be average. I don't wanna be everyday. I wanna be the elite of the elite. I wanna be fit where I can go do something for the Lord. We need those that are fit for the fight. Now let's notice something about these men, David's mighty men. First of all, I note that they were acquainted with battle. Look at verse number eight. The Bible tells us there in verse number eight, And of the Gadites, they're separated themselves unto David into the whole of the wilderness men of might, that could handle shield and buckler. Shield was a big shield that we're accustomed to see in buckler, a smaller arm kind of shield. These were men that had battled before. These were men that knew what it was to go to the battle. They were acquainted with the battle. Now I'm gonna tell you something, look up in here and listen to what your preacher's saying this morning. Most of you know nothing of the battle of Christ. You come in a church house and you sit on a church pew on Sunday morning and then you go back and you live your life and you're doing whatever, why don't we get in the battle? Wouldn't it be great if we had some people at Concord Baptist Church on a Sunday morning and say, Preacher, I want to enlist today. I want to get out there on the front lines. I want to be a part of what God's doing in my community. I want to be a part of what God's doing at my workplace. I want to be a part of what God's doing at my school. I know it's summertime. I want to be a part of what God's doing amongst my friends. I don't wanna just be a Christian that just sits on the pew and bides my time, just waits for time to pass, but I wanna be different than that. Preacher, here am I. I wish the Lord had sent me somewhere. I wanna do something. I wanna get on the front lines and be acquainted with the battle. I thought about these men and how that they were acquainted with the battle and that they understood the difference between a precision attack and between a wide battle or campaign. Can I say there's sometimes that what we're gonna deal with in our lives are precision attacks. You know, they use those Navy SEALs and they go in there and they do precision warfare with them. Those men know what they're doing. They can go in, they sneak in, they're able to get their job accomplished, you send the SEALs. Now, if you want to scorch the earth, you send the Marines. Amen. You send the Marines, because the Marines, they just scorched the earth. They're gonna kick everything over, they're gonna knock everybody down, and they're gonna look good doing it, son. They're gonna kill everybody they can kill. They don't care. It's scorched earth policy. And sometimes in our Christian life, we need to battle that way. I mean, bless goodness, just knock it over. Let's get it done. Hey, let's take some land, let's win some ground. But there are other times in your Christian life where it's gonna take precision, it's gonna take skill. There's things that need to be sliced out, not hammered out. There's things that need to be sliced down and trimmed down. That is the difference between a man that knows what he's doing when it comes to a spiritual battle and a man that does not know what he's doing. Listen, I'll tell you something. The biggest battlefield, the biggest precision battlefield that you boys are gonna have, it's gonna happen right there. Right there, right there. Right there. Biggest battlefield that the Christian has is right between his ears. That's exactly right, and that is precision warfare. It's precision warfare. That's the reason you better be careful. Boy, I'm gonna do some preaching right here. You better be careful what you let get in the eye gate. There's things that I've seen that I'll never unsee. There's things that I've heard that I'll never unhear. and say, oh, it don't matter that much. Everybody's got a phone in their pocket now. Get on that phone, look at a little something, it don't matter that much. I'll look at it, I'll repent of it tomorrow, I'll get right. Yeah, that's what God will forgive you. God will forgive you, and I thank God for that. God will put that under the blood, and I thank God for that. But I'm gonna tell you something. Once you've allowed that stuff to enter in that eye gate and it gets stuck in that mind, you'll never ever get it out. I'm doing somebody or the same man this morning. You'll never get that out of your mind once it's entered in there. That's why you'd better be careful what you let enter at the eye gate. Because the mind, ain't no wonder the Bible tells us to skirt up the loins of our minds. Lest becoming weary you should be weak and faint in your mind. It's the mind that's the battleground. It's the mind that's the battlefield. That's precision tactics. That's the battlefield where things happen. You better be careful what you let inside that thing, because what gets inside, a lot of times you can't get it out. You'll pray about it and get forgiveness, but what a man sows, he's gonna reap. And so there's a battlefield that goes on inside the mind. Listen to me now. There is those that were acquainted with the battlefield. But then these were men that had the attributes for battle. The Bible said they had faces like lions. Can I run a rabbit? I ain't been preaching in a week. Boy, I may preach a week. Let me run one rabbit. They had faces like these men, these men were not walking around. Jesus is man. Look up in here. Look up in here, boys. Be men. Amen. Look up in here, girls. Date boys that are men. Hallelujah. Ain't nothing wrong. Ain't nothing wrong with being a man. These were men, they had spent time, they had physical strength. The Bible said, when you looked at them, it said they looked like lions. Now, nobody ever looked at, the lion is the king of the beast. Nobody ever looked at the lion and said, oh, look at that cute little lion. No, you look at a lion, you go, oh, it's a lion. because a lion is a strong creature. Now listen to me, I've been wanting to preach a message on this and I don't think I'm ever gonna get to it so I'm just gonna mention it right here. The Bible said that Satan, you know what, I got this other day and boy it really helped me. It may not do a thing for you but it really helped me. It did not say Satan was a lion. As a lion, see he's always an imitator. He's as a roaring lion. So Satan, while he is strong, I understand that, he walks around going roar, roar, roar, but in reality, there is a lion of the tribe of Judah. My friend, he's the real lion. Oh yes, and Satan shall bow at his feet one day and confess him as king of kings and lord of lords. So we're to be as lions. A lion, being a lion spoke of physical strength. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Power. Oh, I'm gonna preach to you boys. Quit being sissies. Don't be sissies. Amen. That's exact, I'm gonna preach some more right here. In this day and age which we live, they make it cool to be gay. It ain't cool to be gay. Be a man! Lions, strong lions are. The lions roar, they say can be heard from a mile away. It's the terror of the African night. A lion's mane, did you know a lion's mane had a purpose? God made everything with a purpose. They say a lion's mane, Brother Rick, is so thick that other animals can't bite through it. Protects his necks. God said, these men were like lions. The Bible said in Proverbs 30, a lion, which is strongest among the beasts, and turneth not away for any. Hey, I'm glad for men, real men, that are willing to stand. And while a lion is strong, and a lion is feared, you know something else about a lion? A lion is loyal to its pack. Pride, it's loyal to its pride. They said, I was reading, sometimes I get messages, I see y'all covering up, so I'm gonna turn this, I'll just sweat, y'all gonna uncover and I'll sweat. Because after the service, I have to hear it from 45 people. I don't set this thing. I don't set it, and they're a mile and a half apart. I was reading, sometimes I get my messages out of a National Geographic magazine. I was reading about lions, you know, lions. I read about this one particular lion. They'd followed him, National Geographic followed him. There's this pack of hyenas come in on him. Over 100 hyenas come in on his pride. You know what they said he'd done? Stood his ground. And when it was over, he'd killed about 80 hyenas. And the rest of that crowd said, whoa, we're out of here. You see, even though a lion is ferocious, oftentimes a lion can be very caring. A lion can be one that cares about his pride. A lion can be one that protects those that are around him and those that are in his family. Boy, what a picture of a godly man. Somebody that's strong, somebody that's courageous, but somebody that cares about his family. Somebody cares about his church. Somebody cares about the things of God and is willing to fight for them if need be. Think about this. When we think about Christ in Luke 2, the Bible said, and Jesus increased. Now, if Jesus increased, I want to know how he increased. because it's my one and only job to be as much like him as I can. So if he increased, I want to know, Brother Leon, how did he increase? That's where I want to increase. Well, the Bible tells us. The Bible says that he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Now, some would focus on wisdom, make Jesus out to be a bookworm. Others would focus on stature and say Christ was some kind of superman, strong and muscular with a domineering will. Others would focus on favor with God and have us to believe he's some kind of a monk. Others would focus on favor with man and say that Christ was some social creature that only reached out to mankind. But in reality, Christ is both none of those, but really what he is is all of those perfectly blended. Wisdom, stature, favor with God, favor with man. I wanna be used of God. No, you won't be used. How about you, you wanna be used? You wanna be used to God? How about you kids down here on this side? Would y'all like to be used of God? You want us to be average every day, running the mill? Or would you say, boy, oh, I'd like to be used to God. I'd like to one of these days walk into heaven and hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. Well, you need to increase the same way Christ increased. In wisdom, that's knowledge applied. In stature, my friend. In favor with God and with man. That's how Jesus advanced. That's how Jesus grew. God, help us to grow like Jesus. I'm almost done. They had a right ability. They were strong. Look at what the Bible said. Not only did they have, my friend, the right attributes, but they had the right ability. Look what the Bible said. The Bible said not only were they strong like lions, but they were fast like roes, deers. The roe still lives in the Judean hills. It's called the Dorcas gazelle. It's one of the fastest little animals you've ever seen. These men, Brother Neil, they were both strong and they were fast. I can just see them going to battle, can't you? I mean, here they come, big old men looking like lions. Maybe the enemy thought, we'll outrun that bunch. Didn't work out for them, did it, Brother Gary? He said, guess what? Not only are we big, but we're also fast. And then run them down. I bet you're fast. You fast. You think you can beat me in a race? Probably. Stand up here. Look at this boy. Does this not look like a runner? Get up there where everybody can see you. Look at that. Look at that. Oh, my soul. I bet that boy can run. Can you? Am I right? I'm just guessing. You're a runner, ain't you? A runner. Now everybody look, everybody look by and say, now that fella, he's fast. I bet you that dude's fast. I'm just trying to think if I, Brother Rick, you reckon you could outrun him? Probably not. You're like me, too old. Out sleep him. We could probably both out eat him. Out run, not out run. How you keep this figure? Look here. He's fast. Now you look at Bryce, you say, oh man, he's fast. He gonna run us down. He gonna get us. We're in trouble right here. I'm looking. I'm about to pick me out another victim right here. I'm looking. Stand up here, Steve. You're about the biggest feller in here. Stand up there next to Bryce. Look at that. Look at that. He says, Steve, eat Bryce. Look at that. So what happened was, and these men, somehow God went, and they's big and burly like Steve, but fast like Bryce. They see him coming and said, well, we'll get away from him. Woo, run us down. I look right up in here, let me preach on something right here that's never preached on, but you've never heard this in a long time preached on. I'm preaching on being fit spiritually, but I'm gonna say something right here. I'll just hit it and I'll move on. But there's such a thing as remaining fit physically in order to stay in the battle. Oh, everybody got quiet. Let me tell you what's killing us. Tell you what's killing us. Nobody ever preached on gluttony. But I tell you what kills us more than anything else, fork. I'm just preaching you as well as saying, man, fork's killing us. The fork is killing us. Now, we'll preach on smoking, we'll preach on drinking, we'll preach on all these other things. What about eating? Will you get me out of here? Let me show you something. Eat till you get full, and say, well, I gotta have some more. I'm guilty, get up at my dinner table. Oh, Lord have mercy, what have I done? Oh, Lord. Good grief. I'm just gonna have to sit down a minute. I done overate. Ice cream. I'm preaching on this, Devin, just got off a cruise, where all they do is feed you. That's all they do is feed you. But what I'm simply saying is this, for some reason, we think that that's all right to give into our flesh as far as appetite goes, but nothing else. It's still sin. It's still sin. If we can't say no to our flesh over food, then there's probably a lot of other things we can't say no to our flesh over. Boy, I'm preaching this morning. But anyway, all right, back to where I was going here. They had been fit. for the battle, they could run. Now, I'm not a runner. I know that surprises y'all. I'm not a, I just, I just, I hate it. I hate to run. I make myself do it, I hate it. I see people out here running. Is that Thacker boy any kin to y'all? What is it, Nathan? Is that his, not no kin to y'all? That's a running as human being I've ever seen in my life. Y'all know Nathan Thacker. You'll see him running down the road. And he looks like he's having the time of his life. And I'm thinking this fella is deranged. What is wrong with him? They make cars. They've been making horses a long time. Seriously. What I'm trying to say is this, I'm not gonna make you. But I imagine if I set Steve and Bryce right here and I said, on mark, set, go! I think I'd know who'd get to the back door first. Because it takes a little practice to build up some endurance. Now I'm going to show you something about these men. They were swift as rose. They got themselves ready somewhere. Listen to me, young people. Listen to me. They got yourself ready somewhere. You know what you do? You come in here on church on Sunday morning. It's time to get ready spiritually. I don't know, I try to be in the gym every day and I don't claim to be no bodybuilder, know a whole lot about bodybuilding. You have to ask Darrell about that. I don't know that much about it, obviously. I've been trying to do it for 12 years and I ain't no bigger than I was. But anyway, what I do know is that what makes muscles is time and tension. It's time and tension. How much time your muscles are under tension, that's what makes muscles, time and tension. You know what happens when we get in here? I've got just a little bit of time and you need to get a whole lot of attention. You need to say, search me, Lord, bend me, make me, mold me, send me, work me, get me to where I need to be right here is the place to take the time, to get under the tension, to get under the load, my friend, to get into where God wants you to be so that when you leave out them back doors, you're springing, you're fit for the fight, you're ready to go. Thank you, boys, you can sit down. Can I give you one more thing? I'm gonna give it to you whether you want it or not. Let me say this. They had the right attitudes for the battle. Now, y'all remember what happened when Joshua crossed the Jordan? What happened? It was in the spring. It was over Florida's banks, right? What happened? Him pre-stepped out in it. And Israel did what? Crossed on dry land. Sometimes God sends a miracle. Don't you like it when God sends a miracle? And you can just stroll across on dry land? Now here's the thing. These Gadites, they stayed on that side of Jordan. Now, I believe, Brother Rick, on that side of Jordan, their natural enemies would have been the Moabites and some of those, not the Philistines. Their natural enemies on that side. But when they heard their brethren had need, they had the right attitude, they said, we're gonna go help them. They could have said, y'all shouldn't have crossed Jordan in the first place, Brother Randall. They could have said, we're just gonna stand over here and y'all fight your fight and we'll fight our fights. But no, what they said was, our brethren have a need. Now, when they walked up, you can read it right there in the Bible, when they walked up to Jordan, maybe they thought God'll split this thing again, but guess what? He didn't split it. Sometimes God splits them, and sometimes God says swim. Here's what too many Christians do. Too many Christians walk up, and when God don't split it, they just sit down. Oh, well, must not have been God's will. If it had been God's will, he'd have split this river. I done hit an obstacle. I quit. I quit. I give up. Done hit an obstacle. That ain't what they did, was it? I see them, one of them look at the other, and they say, our brother need help. Now this wasn't some little old knee-deep river they're getting ready to cross. It's swollen, it's out of its banks, it's rolling. And they said, we gotta get over there, we gotta get to the other side. I see them as they start to jump in, and the currents are taking them, and they're swimming against the current, and they're trying to get to the other side. Maybe them Philistines on the other side of the river thought, that bunch of nuts, they done drowned theirselves. They're done dead, they gonna kill theirselves. They've jumped in the Jordan, but you know what they had? Determination. That's my character trait. Determination. They just kept swimming. One after another, they jumped in the river. Here's these big old burly men. They've got their weaponry hanging on them, the currents turning them over and driving them under, but they just keep on swimming. I see them on this side now, and they're laughing. They're all going around. But boy, they quit laughing pretty quick. When that bunch started coming up on the other side. Oh boy, the fight's on now, Gary, because these is real men. God didn't send a bunch of pansies over. He sent real men. and they got up out of the river, and son, here they come, the battle's getting ready to be on. They took off a running, but they run them down, and they drove them into the hold. I'm just simply saying, they would not quit. Amen. Listen right here. Listen right here. You know what they say? They say you can determine the weight of a man, or the length of his stature, by what it is that'll make him quit. When I first went into basic law enforcement training, the whole first week I dropped like flies. We started with 38 and eight, nine graduated. I dropped like flies, first week. Because I was doing things like, all right boys, it's time to rest, getting a lean and rest. And I'd come home and tell Rachel, I ain't going back tomorrow. I'm too old. I don't get it. These people are mean. You know what they'd say to us? Why don't you just quit? Why don't you just go home? You ain't cut out for this. They'd look at us and they'd say, hey, some people it's meant to be to police and some people it's meant to call the police. And I'm thinking your whole class is meant to call the police. Why don't you quit? One day they had us running stadiums at Hendersonville High School, way up one side, across the back, way down the other side. I caught the instructor not looking. I started walking. And I heard a voice, as it was from heaven, burn! Why are you walking? I said, the only thing I could think of, cause I'm old. He said, it's no excuse. You knew it was gonna be tough when you got in here. If you want it soft, go to Dairy Queen and a few other choice words. And I went to running! I got to the top and I'm running across and he's right here in my ear. Why don't you just quit? Why don't you quit? You can go home today. You don't never have to put up with me again. Why don't you quit? I said, no, sir, I ain't gonna quit. You see, it has to have a little bit of determination. Oh, the devil's always telling me, why don't you quit? Throw in the towel. I'm sorry. Give up your Bible. Why don't you quit? Why don't you just throw it in? Why don't you just forget about serving God? Why don't you quit? It ain't worth it. Throw in the towel. Give up. Give up, give up, give up. But you know what you say? I'm just gonna keep on swimming. I'm just gonna keep on going. I won't stop. I won't be deterred. I won't give up. I've got determination. That's the kind of soldier that gods are looking for. And it bounced back up. And it bounced back up. I heard a story one time about Bear Bryant, famous football coach. He's talking to his scouts one day. He said, fellas, this is the kind of football player we're looking for. He said, and you go out and you see that fella, he gets knocked down, he bounces right back up. And then he comes around the line, somebody knocks him down, he bounces right back up. And then he's running for a touchdown, somebody blindsides him, knocks him down, but he bounces right back up. And one of the scouts said, we get it, coach, we get it. We want us to find them football players that bounce right back up. He said, no, I want you to find that fella that's knocking everybody down. Amen. God's looking for some that just have some determination. I ain't gonna quit. I'm closing right here, I'm gonna give it all to God. Hey, son, maybe this week felt like quitting. Let's be honest. The devil tell you God don't love you. God loved you, why would you be in this mess? Why don't you just quit? You got up this morning, the devil said, don't go to church today. You just quit going to church. Don't fool with church. Quit, forget about church, it ain't worth it. Sleep in, do something else. Why don't you quit? That's the kind of thing the devil keeps saying, and he's got a lot of people do it over the years. God's looking for a few people, Brother Rick, with some determination. Say, I'll just keep on getting it. I'll just keep on reading the Bible. I'll just keep on praying. I'll just keep on telling people about Jesus. I'll just keep on being faithful to church. I'll just keep on doing the right thing. Determination. Determination. You know why I've liked having Randall Shuford as a partner over the years? Because one of the few people on this planet that I really do think would probably fight for me until he died. And I would him. Things that we went into, there's always been an understanding. We go in this together, we come out together. Tell you something about Brian Ledford. Me and Brian's crawled in a lot of burning houses. You know why I feel confident crawling in a house with Brian Leffert? Because I know he'd melt his ears off his head before he leaves me laying. And he knows the same thing about me. I'd melt the ears off my head before I left him laying somewhere. It's determination. Now if that's the kind of people you want by your side, Why wouldn't we want that kind of Christian? Why wouldn't we want to look around and say, now them people right there, they gonna stick with it no matter what. When the going gets rough, they just gonna keep on going. When everybody else is quitting, they're gonna be encouraging, saying, one more mile, men, one more mile. Mexican-American War. Those men were overrun at the Alamo and killed. And the battle cry throughout the remainder of that battle was remember the Alamo. When they'd start getting pinned down and things start going bad, somebody'd cry out, remember the Alamo! Boy, when we get to fighting in our Christian fight, When we get to getting pinned down and the devil's knocking the wind off of us, we ought to look at one another and say, remember Calvary. Remember Calvary. Consider him which endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Remember Calvary. Stay in the fight, Concord Church. Stay in the battle, mama. Don't quit, daddy. Stay with it. Remember Calvary. I wanna be above average. I wanna be an elite warrior. I wanna be one that's determined. Brother Marvin, to thee. The saddest thing I could think of, Brother Gary, would be at my funeral. For somebody to say Bradley used to do pretty good. I want to go out fighting. I want to die on the battlefield. I want to die in the war. I want to die on this battlefield with glory in my soul. We just need some folks that are determined. I'll stick with it. I'll stick with it. Let's stand on our feet, Father. Thank you, Lord, for helping us this morning. Oh, God. We need some warriors with determination, men and women, boys and girls with determination. Some folks will say, when it gets tough, I'm just gonna stay with it. I wanna be fit for the battle. I wanna be fit for the fight. God, help us this morning, Lord, to have some men and women like that at Concord Baptist Church. Oh, bless us and touch us as only you can. We'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Her heads are bowed and her eyes are closed. Folks already gathering in this altar, but there's still room for you. Oh, today, preacher, I wanna be that kind of warrior. I'm determined the devil's gonna try to make me quit. But I don't wanna quit, I wanna be determined. I wanna fight to the finish. I wanna finish what I've started. Others coming, I wanna fight to the finish. I wanna be determined. I wanna be a teenager that's determined. I don't wanna start.